Golf club to host State Amateur title tournament

Published 11:09 pm, Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Loudonville club will be host to the 91st State Amateur on July 23-25 after a conflict forced the NYSGA to abandon plans to hold the event at the Bethpage State Park Red Course in Farmingdale.

"They have a Major League Baseball event at Bethpage," said Bill Moore, executive director of the state association. "They were trying to move a couple of events, and it was going to force us to move up a week, which would have overlapped Rochester's district event and a number of U.S. Amateur qualifiers. We didn't want to do that."

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Moore approached Schuyler Meadows, which three years ago underwent a massive renovation overseen by Gil Hanse, the architect for the course to be used for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Schuyler Meadows will be the third Capital Region course to hold the State Amateur in the past six years, following Pinehaven (2008) and Albany (2010). The area also will be host to the NYSGA Senior Amateur, scheduled for Sept. 17-19 at Normanside in Delmar.

"There are a couple of reasons we took it," said David Hayes, green chairman at Schuyler Meadows. "We had the renovation, and we're really eager to show it off on a big stage like this tournament. Also, we think the golf course is ready for it. The renovation has really taken (hold) now. The course is in phenomenal shape. It's a great opportunity to showcase the club."

A key factor, according to Hayes, was a change in format that ties up the club for only four days, including the practice round. The state event converted from match play, which disrupted the host club for six days, to 72-hole match play in 2009.

"It's much more palatable from a membership standpoint," Hayes said. "New York state does offer some revenue to the club. It's a package that makes a lot of sense now, where in the past it was much more difficult to get through the process."